A journey of the mind afloat in space and time. An emotion capture. Arresting images and some great poems and lyrics.

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Tag Archives: 1984

On this day in 1984 they held an annual football game in the USA called Superbowl XVIII. Barry Manilow sang the national anthem. Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins by 38 points to 9. The next day nobody was talking about the game. Nobody was talking about Barry Manilow. Nobody was talking about the half time show, a salute to the superstars of the silver screen.

Everyone was talking about an ad that played during the game. An ad that ran on that day only and never again. An ad that became the stuff of legend.

Chiat/Day ad agency commissioned Ridley Scott to direct the slot. He took inspiration from George Orwell’s novel 1984. He depicted a controlled society in the future, similar to the dystopian vision of Orwell’s book. Then a blonde girl in a white shirt and orange shorts throws a hammer through a very large screen. We are then told that Apple is about to change the world. And to be fair they did. They launched the Apple Mackintosh, the first mouse driven GUI computer, the things we all use now.

Some said the “Big Brother” in the ad represented IBM. Others suggested it represented Bill Gates. Everyone wanted to know what exactly Apple was about to launch. The ad was made before a working prototype was available so the product does not feature in the ad. The important thing is that the ad, like all good ads followed the mousetrap analogy. If you want the trap to work you have to leave room for the mouse. A good ad has a certain amount of the unknown about it, the observer has to walk into the ad and try to figure out what is going on.

In this case the analogy is doubly profound because it launched a computer with a mouse.

Still considered the greatest every Superbowl ad the Apple Mac launch 1984 ad generated millions of dollars in publicity and was aired for free thousands of times in news and reviews shows. It then went on to win multiple awards at the Cannes Lions, generating further publicity for Apple.

It took me 4 years post launch before I got my hands on an Apple Mac. It was still fresh and new then.

Armed police on the beach, guarding the donkeys from Islamic terrorists. Or are they there to protect old blighty from the immigrants? Will you “fight them on the beaches”? Those nice Polish men who erected your garden shed, or changed your car tyres, or unblocked your toilet?

This is the England being created by David Cameron and Theresa May today. It is a land of fear and suspicion. It is a world of hate. It is a place where wealthy people become more wealthy, making armaments to sell to despots and dictators, rebels and freedom fighters on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East, in Africa, in Asia, in South America. And when those distant people have had enough of killing each other sometimes they take a notion to visit violence on the brokers of death.

This is an England where the wealthy resent the very fundamentals that make Britain Great. The social contract between the people and the state that was forged from the blood sacrifice of two world wars. Basic housing provision, social welfare, a national health service, public transport and a civil service built on principles of fairness, honesty, trust, service, you know, old fashioned English public schoolboy stuff.

The puppet masters of the Tory party want to dismantle the public contract. They want a descent into what they have in the USA. Richer rich and poorer poor. They have already dismantled British Rail, British Gas, Water and Electricity and sold off the family jewels. Now they are going after things like the minimum wage, healthcare and housing.

The European Union was in their way. The EU demands a social contract as the price of membership. This does not suit the oligarchs. To get the world they want they needed Britain to be outside the EU. They sold Brexit to the working class British by dealing in fear, hate, xenophobia, racism and greed. Basically they sold the seven sins. And Britain bought them.

Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas. If you buy the seven sins then you get to live them. What that means, in a real sense, is armed police on the beach on a sunny day. This is England!

For those of you out there who blame all this on muslims, I give you a poem to think about. Sassoon wrote this after witnessing the carnage of the Battle of the Somme. It is violently anti-Christian, and he never published it in his life. Islam is an excuse given to you by the Oligarchs to engender you with fear and suspicion of “others”. If you wipe out all the muslims they will find another target for your hate. They have a manual for this plan, it is called “1984”, written by George Orwell.

Christ and the Soldier; by Siegfried Sassoon

The straggled soldier halted — stared at Him — Then clumsily dumped down upon his knees, Gasping

‘O blessed crucifix, I’m beat !’

And Christ, still sentried by the seraphim, Near the front-line, between two splintered trees, Spoke him:

‘My son, behold these hands and feet.’

The soldier eyed him upward, limb by limb, Paused at the Face, then muttered,

‘Wounds like these Would shift a bloke to Blighty just a treat !’

Christ, gazing downward, grieving and ungrim, Whispered,

‘I made for you the mysteries, Beyond all battles moves the Paraclete.’

II

The soldier chucked his rifle in the dust, And slipped his pack, and wiped his neck, and said —

‘O Christ Almighty, stop this bleeding fight !’

Above that hill the sky was stained like rust With smoke. In sullen daybreak flaring red The guns were thundering bombardment’s blight. The soldier cried,

‘I was born full of lust, With hunger, thirst, and wishfulness to wed. Who cares today if I done wrong or right?’

Christ asked all pitying,

‘Can you put no trust In my known word that shrives each faithful head ? Am I not resurrection, life and light ?’

III

Machine-guns rattled from below the hill; High bullets flicked and whistled through the leaves; And smoke came drifting from exploding shells.

Christ said

‘Believe; and I can cleanse your ill. I have not died in vain between two thieves; Nor made a fruitless gift of miracles.’

The soldier answered,

‘Heal me if you will, Maybe there’s comfort when a soul believes In mercy, and we need it in these hells. But be you for both sides ? I’m paid to kill And if I shoot a man his mother grieves. Does that come into what your teaching tells ?’

A bird lit on the Christ and twittered gay; Then a breeze passed and shook the ripening corn. A Red Cross waggon bumped along the track. Forsaken Jesus dreamed in the desolate day — Uplifted Jesus, Prince of Peace forsworn — An observation post for the attack.

‘Lord Jesus, ain’t you got no more to say ?’

Bowed hung that head below the crown of thorns. The soldier shifted, and picked up his pack, And slung his gun, and stumbled on his way.